A US senator has refused to apologise for comparing the actions of US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay to those of Nazis, while others have decried or defended the mandate and method used to hold prisoners there.

US Senator Dick Durbin on Wednesday refused to apologise for comments he made on the Senate floor referring to Nazis, Soviet gulags and a "mad regime" like Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Illinois Republican Party chairman Andy McKenna had demanded he apologise.

"Senator Durbin's comments come as a great disservice to our military personnel in Guantanamo," he said. "They are also a great disservice to all US soldiers and veterans who have fought, and continue to fight, to overcome evil regimes and spread democracy around the world."

Durbin did not plan to apologise for the comments, spokesman Joe Shoemaker said.

"This administration should apologise to the American people for abandoning the Geneva Conventions and authorising torture techniques that put our troops at risk and make Americans less secure," Durbin had said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

Attack

During a speech on Tuesday, Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, quoted from an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the naval base in Cuba as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.

"You would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings"

US Senator Dick Durbin "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings."

Durbin is not alone in his criticism.

Human-rights groups have long accused the administration of unjustly detaining suspects at the prison camp. Amnesty International last month called the detention centre the "gulag of our times".

Rebuttal

President George Bush and other administration officials, however, have strongly resisted such comparisons and questioned Amnesty's objectivity.

"It's difficult to explain to a mom and dad who's lost their son or daughter how you can have someone in Guantanamo Bay, release them and then they kill your son and daughter"

"I take strong exception to any characterisations that try to diminish what our military is doing and the standards and values that they adhere to," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The Bush administration calls the Guantanamo prisoners "enemy combatants" who are entitled to fewer legal protections than those afforded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

Defence

According to US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, the US government often considers whether it would be better to stop detaining prisoners at Guantanamo.

"That's a question that is evaluated, I would say, quite often," he said in Sheffield, England, where he will attend a meeting of G8 interior ministers on Thursday and Friday.

On Wednesday, he had said "there will of course be an end", but did not specify when.

He also pointed out that about a dozen of those who had been released had returned to fight against the US.

"It's difficult to explain to a mom and dad who's lost their son or daughter how you can have someone in Guantanamo Bay, release them and then they kill your son and daughter," he said.

Since the camp was set up after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, 167 detainees have been freed and 67 others released to the custody of their home governments.

About 520 detainees from about 40 countries remain at Guantanamo. Only 12 have been handed over to military commissions for investigation of possible war crimes and four have been charged.

Debate

In a three-hour hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, legal experts from the US military and the Justice Department said the US had a right under the Geneva Conventions to hold enemy combatants.

But committee chairman Senator Arlen Specter suggested lawmakers would have to clarify what he called a "crazy quilt" of laws and regulations governing the detentions.

Some lawmakers want the facility closed, saying it has become a liability that inflames Muslims against the United States.

"Guantanamo is an international embarrassment to our nation, to our ideals and it remains a festering threat to our security," Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said.

Survey

A Pew Research Centre poll, taken over the weekend, indicated most Americans agree that reports of abuse at Guantanamo are isolated incidents, and 39% think the news media is paying too much attention to the issue.

The poll found a sharp partisan divide on the issue - Democrats believing the abuses to be systemic and Republicans saying they were isolated incidents.

You can find this article at: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/796AA4AC-531C-4E6F-B855-7FBC52506824.htm

I swear to God... If I was a Republican Senator, I'd be jumping over tables to get at this pri_k. I'd be on him so fast he wouldn't know whether to sh_t or go blind.

'fraid not, maybe you or I or most Freepers would, but all Dickie boy would have to do is say something along the lines of "Are you questioning my patriotism?" and then the spineless Republican would cower and back down and instead of justifiably continuing to attack DICK he/she would not only spend their time claiming they are not questioning his patriotism would actually be thanking Dick for his service.

The True mascot of the Senate Republicans

81
posted on 06/16/2005 10:10:32 AM PDT
by qam1
(There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)

See any outraged GOP polititions lately ? Me neither. Nobody is held accountable in the Senate. Can't rock the boat and upset the country club. During war, those who are patriots should defend this country against those who would weaken us. The words of Durbin and others should be sharply rebuked. But the game goes on. When citizens seem to be the only ones furious this will continue. Others are afraid to call it what it is....selling out America. WHY ?

Well one more 9/11 type terrorist attack and GWB and the rest of them in D.C. can bend over and kiss their collective legacies good bye! And every Muslim camel jockey in America will have to pack up bag and baggage and go back to whatever hellhole they originated from.

We've spent BILLIONS securing the borders in Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq and we leave our own FRONT & BACK DOORS WIDE OPEN!!!

They've had almost four friggin' years to secure the borders, deport the MILLIONS of illegals in this country and they have accomplished NADA, ZIP, ZERO!

I say that this guy should be parachuted into Iraq. A nice isolated (unrecorded) place where some our military folks are located. He can then explain his remarks to them, off the record of course, in person. They can "explain" to him their thoughts on being compared to Nazis.

No wonder the Democrats use the jackass as their standard. It really is the party of horses axxes and jackaxxes. Every time they open their mouths you want to Heehaw!

These people want to embarrass the administration. It doesn't matter to them that they give comfort to an enemy and pay lip service to supporting our troops. Somebody should stand up in the Senate and call him to task. The Republicans don't seem to have the stomach to take them on. They're afraid that they are losing support because of the casualties. The hell with what the rest of the world thinks. Those people if released would try to kill us again.

The people in Illinois should be ashamed that they elected this piece of crap to the senate. I'd like to inundate the sucker's e-mail.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.